Supermarkets and Grain Farmer Transformation in China

Zhen Liu

No 360615, 2025 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2025, Denver, CO from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: The rapid expansion of supermarkets is modernizing grain value chains in developing countries; however, its implications for grain farmers remain underexplored. This study introduces a location based framework and examines how supermarket expansion affects farmer income and resource allocation, using a panel of 5,221 grain farmers in China from 2006 to 2015. The results show no effects on grain income at the aggregate level, but significant variation across locations. Remote farmers earn higher grain income due to increased farm-gate prices, greater commercialization, and more resources allocated to grain production. In contrast, peri-urban farmers experience losses in grain income, but manage to compensate for these losses through shifting to off-farm work. Our findings highlight a spontaneous transformation among farmers driven by adaptive diversification strategies in response to supermarket expansion, offering insights for agricultural and retail policies in developing countries.

Keywords: Research; and; Development/Tech; Change/Emerging; Technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 65
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea25:360615

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.360615

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